Arsenal do not need to spend millions like Manchester City to win the title, says Arsène Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger remains convinced he can bring the title to the
Emirates without spending millions, despite watching Manchester City buy
their way into title contention.

I did it my way: Arsene Wenger is convinced his shrewd spending gives Arsenal just as much chance of the title as the cash splashersPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Telegraph staff

9:07AM GMT 05 Jan 2011

Wenger has said he will only dip into the transfer window if defender Thomas Vermaelen suffers a setback in his recovery from injury. Manchester City, on the other hand, have already signalled their intent to spend heavily by agreeing to sign Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko from German club Wolfsburg.

But while Roberto Mancini and his predecessors have spent well over a quarter of a million pounds, Wenger fervently defends Arsenal's renowned refusal to spend big on individual players.

"What is fantastic in football is there is no given formula," Wenger said of City's free-spending since they fell into the hands of Abu Dhabi owners.

"I personally am a big fan of the way we do it, so I try to be successful with the way we do it. You can also do it the way Inter do, or Manchester City do, they buy the best players in the world, and it works as well.

"When I signed in England this question did not exist. Every club was run within its resources. The Chelsea the Man City are new problems in football.

"I run Arsenal like I feel it needs to be run [but the other way] does not annoy me as long as they respect the rules and at the moment, the rules are like that and they respect them, so you cannot fault them. It is supposed to change, then we will see."

Asked how affairs in the Premier League needs to be altered in order to find the true champions Wenger said only a transfer cap allow for that.

"The real, real true test would be to give £100 million to all the 20 clubs in the Premier League and say 'let's go'," Wenger, who last won a trophy in 2005 continued.

"That is the real test. Then you can say at the end of the year, the best club has won. The real, real test would be that everybody has exactly the same resources.

"The budget of a club is all that is involved – commercial, television, player transfers and gates. As long as that does not happen, it is a test of who corresponds most to the potential of each club."